I want to share something with you today that I have regretted for years, it's not a big thing, but big enough for me to remember and wish I had done what I was impressed to do.
I was shopping in Penney's Department Store and when I went to pay for my purchase, a young lady came up with some baby clothes to put on layaway. Immediately I was impressed to pay for her items, I don't know why but perhaps she was to too poor to pay for them and had to pay for them gradually, I don't know the circumstances that surrounded her. I stood there watching her and didn't say a word. I was well off at the time and could easily have paid for them. I have always regretted the missed opportunity to do something kind for someone in need.
I am hoping that God will grant my request of giving me another opportunity to make up for my lost one.
I have wondered since that day so long ago, how many opportunities I have missed since then, I have no idea but I sure am hoping that I will see the next one and the next and not miss any more. I have been very sad over that.
Several years before that when my children were small I went to the store for something and saw a young man hitchhiking on the corner and it looked like he had his mother with him and she wasn't young by any means and she was sitting on the suitcase while he had his thumb out. That kept bothering me, it was cold and I knew I could do something to help them. So I stopped and invited them to come home with me to warm up and I would make them breakfast. They were so grateful and I packed them a lunch and took them to the next big town where the freeway began. I didn't lose that opportunity to be Christ's helping hand and I have always been grateful that I didn't pass that one up.
Through the years I have always wanted to be a servant, I don't know why, it must have been planted in my heart as a young child. I think of all the times when Christ healed the blind, the deaf, the maimed, the lepers, the paralyzed and raised the dead, and fed the multitudes. He was a servant and that is probably where I got the idea that I should be, and I love serving people to this day. I hope that I will always be a servant for my Lord and not miss any more opportunities to serve Him. How about you? Have you missed some times when you could have brought happiness to someone's heart. I know that I have and probably many times over. Those two incidents have stuck out in my mind as a lesson to me of how it affects a person when he follows God's leading and when he doesn't. I pray that I never miss another opportunity.
Matthew 20:25,26 "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant."
Galatians 5:13 "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
There I have it, the reason why I have had that deep desire to serve. I always wondered why. I just hope and pray that God will give me many more opportunities to serve others and that my health will improve to the point that I can do as much as He will give me to do. How about you? You probably have lots of experiences that you could share about being a servant or not being a servant and the missed opportunities.
Let's not miss any more opportunities to served Christ and our fellow man. We are admonished to do that. What will you do with your opportunities? I pray that we will not miss any more. Grandma Joan
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